381 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
381 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
topics
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about-us
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style-book
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1435322
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-----
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# Telegraph style book: Pp
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1:03AM BST 12 Apr 2008
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**[A][1]** | **[B][2]** | **[C][3]** | **[D][4]** | **[E][5]** | **[F][6]** |
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**[G][7]** | **[H][8]** | **[I][9]** | **[J][10]** | **[K][11]** | **[L][12]**
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| **[M][13]** | **[N][14]** | **[O][15]** | **[P][16]** | **[Q][17]** |
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**[R][18]** | **[S][19]** | **[T][20]** | **[U][21]** | **[V][22]** |
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**[W][23]** | **[X][24]** | **[Y][25]** | **[Z][26]**
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* [Telegraph style book: introduction][27]
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Page 3 girls
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Paglia, Camille
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Palestine Liberation Organisation (not Palestinian). PLO in heads and
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subsequent mentions. Explain which faction if possible.
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Palmer-Tomkinson, Tara
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## Related Articles
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* [Introduction][27]
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10 Jan 2008
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Pan is usually hyphenated e.g. Pan-African. (But Pan Africanist Conference).
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panama: is a hat made, not in Panama, but Ecuador. As with trilby, boater etc,
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"panama hat" is tautological.
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Panama cigar has a cap P.
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paparazzi is the plural: paparazzo is the singular.
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paralleled.
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Parker Bowles, Brigadier Andrew: no hyphen.
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participles: "As result of him having eaten the cake, he had a heart attack"
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is wrong. If you use this construction, it has to include the possessive: "As
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a result of his having eaten the cake…"
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partly not partially, which means being inclined to favour one person or
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party: though partially sighted.
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Parliament but parliamentary. Foreign parliaments are lc.
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partner: never to be used in the sense of a person's heterosexual co-habitee
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unless every other option looks absurd. Use boy/girlfriend, lover, mistress
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etc. Now that we have civil partnerships the term "civil partner" may be used
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about those who have undergone this legal ceremony with a member of the same
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sex. "Partner" may be used for a professional or business relationship.
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part-time
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Party (I): in the names of specific political parties it takes the cap P. The
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Labour Party, the Conservative Party but "all the parties were agreed".
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party (II): its use as a verb (they partied until dawn) is ugly.
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payout
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Pc: cap P, lc c. Strictly speaking, there are no WPcs now. They are women Pcs
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but WPc may be used in heads.
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PCBs: polychlorinated biphenyls.
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Pearl Harbor: thus
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peddler/pedlar: use drug peddler (or trafficker), reserving pedlar for the
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more traditional meaning.
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people not persons.
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Pepsi-Cola
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per cent does not take a point. Prefer seven in 10 people to 70 per cent of
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people.
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percentage point is an Americanism. If interest rates rise from four to five
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per cent most people will see that as a rise of one per cent: technically, it
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is a rise of 25 per cent, hence the technical use of "one percentage point".
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To avoid either irritation or confusion, simply state the rise as "from four
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to five per cent", or describe the rise or fall in terms of basis points: a
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rise in rates from four to four and three-quarter per cent is a rise of 75
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basis points."
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Perestroika
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perfume: use scent.
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perk is acceptable for perquisite.
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Pernod
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personnel: avoid, and use people or employees.
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Perspex: trade name, needs cap P; never use generically (See [trade
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names][28]).
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Peterhouse, Cambridge is never Peterhouse College.
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Pfeiffer, Michelle
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Philips: the electrical firm takes one l.
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Phillips the auctioneers.
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Phillips, Peter and Zara.
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pidgin English: not pigeon.
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Piggott, Lester
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Pinocchio
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pit bull
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Pimm's
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Piper-Heidsieck
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pistol is preferred to handgun. Say, if possible, if it is a revolver or an
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automatic. The two are frequently confused, and are not interchangeable. (See
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[shotgun][29]).
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Play-Doh
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PlayStation
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plc is not to be routinely used after company names, though is of course
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permissible in technical contexts in describing the structure of companies.
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plurals: follow the Concise Oxford Dictionary or Chambers unless there is a
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contrary ruling in this style book.
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Keep up with the Joneses, Rogerses, Charleses by refusing to use the Jones'.
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Proper names ending in -y do not end -ies in the plural (the Marys, Trilbys,
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lay-bys, zlotys). The Germanies are an exception.
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Words ending in -a take the usual -s in the plural, except: alga, alumna,
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formula, lamina, larva, papilla, which take an -ae plural.
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-ex and -ix endings become -ices only in appendices, calices, cortices,
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helices, radices. Indices only in mathematics and science.
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Indexes. hexes.
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-is in words from Greek and Latin becomes -es: analyses, axes, oases.
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Words ending in -o take -s (not -es) except: goes, heroes, noes, potatoes,
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salvoes (but salvos for excuses or reservations), tomatoes, tornadoes (but
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Tornados for the aircraft), torpedoes, vetoes, volcanoes.
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Virtuosos, solos, sopranos, but normally -o words of Italian origins used
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mainly in the arts take -i in the plural.
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-um in words from Latin becomes -a except for: referendums, compendiums,
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craniums, emporiums, mediums (but media as in mass media) memorandums,
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rostrums, stadiums.
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-us in words from Latin becomes -i only in: alumni, bacilli, bronchi, cacti,
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calculi, foci (only in certain rare scientific terms), fungi gladioli, loci,
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narcissi, nuclei, radii, stimuli, termini. Opus becomes opera. The normal form
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is geniuses etc.
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Do not use an apostrophe to form the plural of a set of initials (MPs not
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MP's).
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Poets' Corner
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pointless prepositions and other appendages: meet with is perhaps the most
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egregious example, but there is also sell off, tie up, free up, fence off,
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close down, fuse together, infringe upon, duck down, send off (a letter),
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rifle through, sell off, shut up (a building) and so on ad nauseam.
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Always ask whether your preposition is really necessary. Nor does this always
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require a verb: "up until" is an abomination, as are "outside of" and "inside
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of". police ranks: Commander, Chief Supt, Supt, Chief Insp, Insp, Sgt (Police
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Sgt if necessary to avoid confusion), Pc. Mr, Mrs or Miss may be used in
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second references to people above the rank of inspector. Dc, Det Sgt, Det
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Insp, Det Chief Insp, etc.
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possessives: Nouns ending in -s add 's in the normal way (lass's, Charles's,
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St James's Square). To form the plural possessive, add an apostrophe to the -s
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of the plural (the lasses', The Joneses' dog). Names ending in -es pronounced
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-iz are treated as plurals (Bridges', Moses'). Jesus' is often found in
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biblical and liturgical use and should not be altered in quotations, but
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Jesus's is now normally preferred. Note the exception in for goodness' sake.
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Expressions like 10 years' jail and a pound's worth have apostrophes.
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Apostrophes are needed in expressions in which words like shop or house are
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understood (going to the grocer's, going to Mr Brown's, but taking to the
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cleaners). This rule holds good for proper names (shopping at Selfridge's, at
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Marks and Spencer's), but when a business uses a title in plural form
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(Debenhams, Barclays Bank) no apostrophe is needed.
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Pol Roger is the standard champagne, Pol Roger Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill the
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luxury brand.
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policy wonk: avoid. It is part of the private language of political
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obsessives, used to describe those who undertake political research, and like
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all private language alienates the general reader.
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poll tax
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Pontin's; note the apostrophe
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Porritt, Sir Jonathon
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Portakabin: is a trade name. Use "portable building" if you're not sure. (See
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[trade names][28]).
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post, pre (meaning after and before) are prefixes, not whole words.
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post mortem: means after death. We must say post mortem examination when we
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mean the means of determining cause of death.
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postnatal
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post-traumatic stress disorder
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Potters Bar
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PowerGen
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practice is a noun, practise is the verb.
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pregnant: women become pregnant, never fall.
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premiere: the first performance of a work does not require an accent.
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pre-booked, pre-planned: avoid. See tautology.
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prepositions at the ends of sentences are inelegant and should be avoided. Do
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not, though, avoid them at the cost of sounding ridiculous: remember
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Churchill's dictum about "this is the sort of English up with which I will not
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put".
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presently is not now, it is soon. Use currently.
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President Clinton/Bush: former US presidents keep their title. For all
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presidents, use full title the first time, then "Mr Sarkozy" thereafter.
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press (for newspapers, reporters) is lower case.
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prestigious is banned.
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presume: see assume.
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prevaricate does not mean to haver or procrastinate; it means to depart from
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the straight and narrow or to act crookedly or deceitfully.
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priests are not necessarily Roman Catholics.
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Prime Minister's Questions
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Princes Street, Edinburgh: no apostrophe.
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Princess Royal, the: not Princess Anne.
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prior to: avoid. Use before.
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Privy Counsellor: not councillor.
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profanity: avoid. If in quotes you need to indicate that somone has used
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offensive language, enter an en, or short, dash for each letter of the word.
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No initial letter should be necessary.
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Profession is a term that can only correctly be applied to certain learned or
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chartered callings: the law, medicine, the civil service, teaching,
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accountancy for example. Other callings, such as journalism, are trades.
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Professor: abbreviate to Prof before name, even at first use, but spell out in
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descriptions. Cap up when referring to a specific chair: Prof John Smith,
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Crippen Professor of Forensic Science, the Regius Professor of Law, Lord
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Smith, professor of history.
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programme, but computer program.
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propellant/ent: (n/adj) a propellant has a propellent effect. propeller.
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protagonist: the chief actor in a drama, and by extension the main person in
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any affair. It does not mean champion, advocate or defender, and it is not the
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opposite of antagonist. There can only ever be one protagonist. Proponent may
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be a useful substitute.
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protest requires the preposition "against": only American usage dispenses with
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this.
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proved is to be preferred to the Americanism proven.
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pub: this is perfectly acceptable for public house.
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Public Record Office
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[X][30] Share & bookmark
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Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
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[What are these?][31]
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* Share: [Share][30] [ ][32] [ ][33]
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[Tweet][34]
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/about-us/style-book/1435322/Telegraph-style-
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book-Pp.html
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Telegraph
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## [Style Book][35]
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* ### [News »][36]
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[X][30] Share & bookmark
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Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
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Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
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[What are these?][31]
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Share:
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* [ ][30]
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* [ ][32]
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* [ ][33]
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* [Tweet][34]
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* Advertisement
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![][37]
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Advertisement
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[EDITOR'S CHOICE »][38]
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### [Gil Scott-Heron: 'A voice for Shakespeare'][39]
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[![Gil Scott-Heron][40]][39]
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Composer, musician, poet and author whose writing provided a vivid commentary
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on the black American experience.
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### [Beekeeping diary: the new colonies arrive][41]
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### [Spectacular light show dazzles Sydney][42]
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### [WS Gilbert: a knight for our times][43]
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### [The Telegraph's Matt is Hay Festival star][44]
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Advertisement
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Classified Advertising
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* [Services][45]
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* [Property][46]
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* [Motoring][47]
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Loading
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[Find your ideal job with Telegraph Jobs][48]
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var puffs_8120657 = new Array();
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